Falsely claiming PTSD for VA benefits?

I know this was posted over a year ago, but it just popped up on my email today. It reminds of a story that I read in one of the military publications a few years ago. It seems that just after 9/11 a guy joined the Army for either a 2 or 3 year stint (can't remember which - might have been a 4 year, but he was out after 2 or 3). Anyway, he enlists for an admin MOS - PAC rat. Never leaves CONUS. Does the time, gets out, it seems involuntarily, and has a "3(something)" code on the DD214, in other words, can't re enlist, don't call us, we'll most likely not be calling you, either. But he doesn't go home. Gets in to some trouble, and goes to prison for a couple years. Gets out of prison. THEN he goes home. Starts telling stories about how he was a hero in Iraq. By then there's enough books out by soldiers who WERE there, etc., that he can bullshit his way through. Tells family and friends that he didn't write/call because he got assigned to "classified" missions (of course). Now, he then "doctors" his DD214 and takes it to the VA. He applies for benefits for PTSD. He goes to his C&P, drops enough incidents from the books and does enough song and dance that he gets 100% disability rating for combat PTSD. Remember, this clown never the CONUS. The only way he was ever found out was someone finally got suspicious of his stories and sent his info to one of the "Stolen Valor" sites. They did a Freedom of Information and got his records from the military, then the state where he was in prison, and published. Someone else took it to the VA... The result? He had bilked the VA out of some $300,000 in disability pay - it was proven he was a fraud. So they cut him down to 30%. That was the end of it. No court case, not restitution. It's pretty ridiculous. PTSD is a great thing to claim, because no one can prove, or disprove it.

You do not need to be a combat vet in other to develop PTSD. You don't have to have fired your gun. There is enormous pressure on every service member. Personally, I developed PTSD after being mugged while walking back to my ship one night.
It is not an easy thing to get disability for PTSD. Who knows why this particular vet has told the stories he has. But the fact is that he talked to plenty of people before gaining disability and they obviously believed him. They don't just take his word for it. They investigated his claims, reviewed his service record and approved his claim.

An Army infantry soldier completes a first term 4 year enlistment, excited following 9/11. Possibly serves only one overseas tour, and never fires his weapon in combat. Gets out of Army following enlistment and joins Army Guard.

So first of all, yes this is 100% possible for this to cause PTSD.

You do not have to experience the trauma directly, that is the big part of it that people do not understand.

Gets out of Army following enlistment and joins Army Guard. Within first year of guard duty (upon orders for overseas tour) claims PTSD threatens to kill his comrades. Is released from duty.

This should have been part of a med board/psych eval and administrative action, but was more than likely done as an "unsat" participant.

Member has tried for 12 years to get benefits, and finally receives 100% disability. Claims to his family that his PTSD disease is cured. Does not follow psychologists prescriptions, as they are not really needed.
Was member fit for duty when enlisting in the Army Guard? Or did this member fraudulently join having pre-existing condition?

He as already in the reserves, all he did was move form the IRR to the Guard, or do you not realize that first enlistment is actually 8 years? Since he had not been diagnosed with PTSD yet, yes he was capable.

Can this member have concealed carry and go hunting, when he claims PTSD for gunfire?

Yes.

would you consider this member to be defrauding the government and taxpayer?

No.

Soldier has lied to family members claiming to be heroic sniper, only to reveal as lies later, having never fired his weapon in actual combat. Possibly used similar lies to VA psychologist.
How would you approach situation? VA does not seem to care, and does not offer path for investigation.

His treatment is NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS.

How about you find something important to do, and stop trying to police other peoples medical issues.

Interesting claims you have. I have a friend who has been unknowingly dealing with PTSD since 91/92. Even when it was brought up to him several times, he denied it. Lately he has been having “bad days” where he weeps uncontrollably with no idea as to why. It embarrasses him. He don’t want no one to know he weeps. It’s not manly. He overeats, causing excessive weight gain and a host of other medical problems. He has been drinking more, at least every night. Whiskey is his preferred choice. He’s prone to anger issues. He’s like a light switch, never can tell when he’s going to cry, rage or be in a joyous mood. He can’t work with other people. Prefers to work alone.He says Stupid people piss him off. His longest employment was 4 years, most employment last for less than 2 years. Sometimes he feels like a failure. Isn’t where he wants to be in life. He claims that what he did and what he saw in combat wasn’t bad. Wasn’t what the other guys went thru so he shouldn’t complain. He can’t talk to others because they wouldn’t understand. He even had a job as a paramedic after coming out of a combat zone. He tells me of the suicides he experienced both prior to combat, where fellow service members committed suicide and he witnessed the aftermath. He tried suicide once. He called it a lark. He had the gun in his mouth, and was pulling the trigger and stopped. He has flashbacks of that as well as other flashbacks. People see those flashbacks and it embarrasses him. He finally reach out for help last week. Made an appointment with the Mental Health division off his VA hospital. That friend is me. I’m finally going to get help. It’s not for us to judge other people. You are not them. You didn’t walk in their boots. This person can still be acting out. Maybe it’s his way of dealing with what he saw. You don’t have to fire a weapon at someone to have PTSD. You don’t have to kill someone to have PTSD. Please don’t belittle or disbelieve people who claim they have it. It’s for the Mental Health workers who are trained to detect, treat and help people. My son has PTSD. Claimed he never fired a shot, never left the base. I found that out not to be true. He did engage. He was trying to hide also. My final words to this is get help, don’t wait. And don’t let others tell you that you are faking it. It’s not their place.

I worked for the VA for 16 years, but I were a disabled veteran first. Let me clear up the misconception that just because a veteran provides a stressor statement of what caused his/her PTSD that it is blindly accepted. With the exception of service members awarded combat medals, of which that medal verifies a stressor, we DO investigate the incident before we ever send a veteran for a compensation mental exam. The stressor must be corroborated first. So, it doesn't matter that the veteran misrepresented his/her military service to family or friends.

There's not enough information about what else may have happened while deployed in combat. Simply because he didn't fire his weapon doesn't preclude him from other potential combat circumstances. That said, the fact that he threatened to kill his fellow guard members needs to be addressed. Doesn't that call for a dishonorable discharge? This would disallow a pension, as well as preventing him from obtaining a firearm.

Wow. He does not sound ideal, but its only a matter of time before the VA changes rules, as they do. When that happens, his luck runs out.

I just read the beginning topic here and haven't really read all of the comments on here so please understand if I say something that has already been covered in the comments. I'm going to start with your saying that the member was in combat zone and didn't fire his weapon, I'm not a mental health professional but I do know that being directly engaged by enemy combatants is not the standard for making a decision on whether or not the member can have PTSD, there are a lot of things that can cause PTSD some environmental factors others could be something as simple as just being outside of one's own comfort zone for a year and constantly worrying about getting killed and even if the member didn't leave the FOB for his whole overseas tour there's still the possibility of being killed by rockets, mortars or even a third world national whom works on the post and one day decided to blow him/herself up to go to paradise.
Now for the thought that the member fraudulently enlisted in the national guard because of hiding his PTSD, it's possible but it's also possible that upon getting his orders to go overseas again he just broke and realized that he couldn't handle it again and decided to get treatment for PTSD to avoid having to go deal with it again.
Now as for his embellishing his military career he probably does that because he didn't have an exciting combat deployment and wants people to think he did because then it would make more sense to people that he has PTSD, people who haven't had to deal with combat deployments don't understand that not just combat can cause PTSD.
Now for him saying his PTSD is cured to his family that could be because of the other concern you mentioned, he could be telling people that because he's tired of people asking him what is he doing owning guns if he has PTSD.
I can tell you from my own experience that I didn't try to get treatment for traumatic brain injury or PTSD while I was in the Army because I didn't want to get kicked out, so the only reason I ended up getting treatment is because I had a seizure and was found by my chain of command, at which time I tried again to hide it but was unsuccessful. After leaving the Army and receiving treatment for TBI, I still was hesitant about getting treatment for PTSD because I was concerned that I'd lose my right to own firearms which really bothered me because I collect guns and love to shoot, but after a lot of research and talking to a lot of people I found out that a person can't lose they're right to own guns simply because they have PTSD and are in treatment for it. The are my opinions and not meant as advice, I'm just trying to answer some of your questions with my experiences of things dealt with myself and other soldiers I know or are friends with. I'm just giving you things to think about before you get someone investigated for fraudulently claiming benefits. I'm of the opinion that if this member didn't have anything wrong with him he probably wouldn't have been able to get the benefits in the first place but again I'm not a professional.

PTSD is a complex set of responses to traumatic circumstances. It is not just combat related, nor military related. As a result, let the professionals make the decisions. Personally, I would rather see people who do not deserve the rating be granted it than have one truly deserving veteran be denied the benefit. I have known Viet Nam vets who were ignored and denied for decades whose lives changed dramatically when they were finally approved. Lets not get so caught up on the few cheaters that we deny the overwhelming number of really deserving folks their benefits.

There will always be persons who will 'game' the system. This one sounds fishy but I am in no position, given the limited facts, to say definitively.